So She Dances
by Touch of Gray
Summary: Nothing can contain him. [50 themes, 1 sentence each. Vaan and Penelo.]


**so she **_dances_

#01 - Ring

Ever since the plague she's hated the sound of bells.

#02 - Hero

Vaan is a god among the kids of Rabanastre, but they don't remember Reks, and that bothers him - his brother was everything he's ever wanted to be.

#03 - Memory

Every now and then, Penelo listens to the song they played at her mother's funeral, because she thinks that if she forgets how she felt that day, she'll lose a huge part of herself.

#04 - Box

She has a picture of him from when they were kids, when he dressed up like a robot and got his head stuck in a box (he doesn't know that she kept it).

#05 - Run

Sometimes, she thinks he's become almost as adept at running from his past as Balthier is.

#06 - Hurricane

Vaan is terrified of lightning, but adamantly refuses to admit this, even when he's curled up on the couch, clinging to Penelo like he's going to die if he doesn't.

#07 - Wings

Freedom tastes better than either of them ever imagined it could.

#08 - Cold

Being born in Rabanastre is not exactly conducive to marching across the Parimina Rift, and she really, really wishes that Vaan would wear a jacket so she could steal it from him and call it chivalry.

#09 - Red

Penelo has one red dress that she wore once, and hates beyond anything she's ever owned, but she keeps it because Vaan told her she looked beautiful in it.

#10 - Drink

Vaan got drunk only once, and sorely regretted it the next morning when Penelo woke him up by banging on every metal surface she could touch.

#11 - Midnight

Even though she knows it doesn't change much, the stars seem so much closer - almost within reach - from the deck of their airship (they didn't from the _Strahl_).

#12 - Temptation

They've made it a point to stop by Rabanastre often, but the last time they were there, Vaan looked at her and said - l_et's just go and never come back _- and she's always wondered what would have happened had she agreed.

#13 - View

He tells her that the view from the cockpit is amazing, especially when he looks out the window to his right.

#14 - Music

Vaan sings in the shower, even though he couldn't carry a tune if it leapt into his arms, and Penelo teases him about this often (so he sings louder).

#15 - Silk

Every time they stay in Archades, they sleep on wonderful, expensive sheets that slide right through her fingers every time she tries to hold onto them (they also allow _her_ to slide right off the bed if he doesn't hold onto her tightly).

#16 - Cover

The best thing about flying a ship is watching the way the aerodome opens up to let them pass through.

#17 - Promise

He's notorious for breaking promises, but when he says he'll never leave her, she believes him.

#18 - Dream

Nothing is ever quite enough to satisfy him.

#19 - Candle

Vaan knew his mother was dead when the light under her door flickered and went out - he's hated candlelight since.

#20 - Talent

Even though Balthier will beg to differ, Penelo thinks that Vaan's actually a pretty good thief.

#21 - Silence

He likes it best when she falls asleep in the chair next to him because she looks so content, and it's easy to believe that she's happy when she got that little smile on her face like she's having a good dream.

#22 - Journey

Somehow, she never expected saving the world (or, well, stopping a world-rending war from happening) would take as long as it did, but she's surprised when it's over so soon.

#23 - Fire

Magic hates Vaan, and therefore Vaan hates Magic (he had gotten the hang of it during their little trek around the world, but fell out of practice and managed to somehow set his hair on fire the last time he tried to use a spell, so now Penelo takes care of anything remotely magical).

#24 - Strength

He sometimes claims to have the strength of ten men - she always follows this with "Yeah, ten baby men."

#25 - Mask

They have to go to a Masquerade Ball while trying to rob some rich Rozzarian blind, and when they get caught, Penelo suddenly bursts into tears, reminding Vaan why he really likes having her around on these sort of things, because the guards are so shocked to have a sobbing fairy on their hands that they simply let them go.

#26 - Ice

He doesn't know exactly what he did, but judging from the _glare _she's giving him, it was bad.

#27 - Fall

He calls it freedom and she calls it insanity, but there's not much time for talking before he grabs her hand and jumps.

#28 - Forgotten

He surprises himself one day when he realizes that he can't recall his parents' faces, and he doesn't really miss them anymore.

#29 - Dance

She doesn't notice the tears in her eyes until the dance is over, and she can't explain what was so sad about it.

#30 - Body

Sometimes she feels like she's watching herself from the sidelines, like she's not really part of what's going on, and she doesn't know how to fix it.

#31 - Sacred

He doesn't believe in the gods, but feels like this can't be an accident.

#32 - Farewells

Neither of them like saying goodbye, so they always try to leave in the middle of the night when no one is around to see, but Basch is always awake when they skip out of Archades, and even though he never says anything, he does wave at their ship when they go.

#33 - World

The world seems so much smaller when they spend so much time traveling around it, and she isn't so sure that's a good thing.

#34 - Formal

Archadian fêtes, Vaan has decided, are the worst things ever imagined (_especially _when Larsa asks Penelo for a dance).

#35 - Fever

There's something known around Rabanastre as "Desert Fever," which has much less to do with sickness as it does with the way desert air feels on bare skin (it's a disease Penelo knows rather well, actually).

#36 - Laugh

Once, Larsa asks her to marry him, and she laughs before she realizes that he's serious.

#37 - Lies

She tells him that she's already engaged to Vaan, hides her left hand behind her back so he won't know there's no ring, and spends the rest of her life vaguely wondering if being an empress wouldn't have been better than being a sky pirate.

#38 - Forever

Somehow, Vaan finds out, and begs her not to leave him, ever.

#39 - Overwhelmed

The night before they confront Vayne, she hides in her room and cries.

#40 - Whisper

He find her, and to her eternal gratitude, simply puts an arm around her and lets her cry, telling her that everything will work out.

#41 - Wait

They never seem to stop anymore, just _go go go_, like there's something following them (and there usually is), but sometimes she just wants to stand still and let the wind breeze through her hair.

#42 - Talk

She can't explain their relationship to anyone; she feels like saying it out loud will somehow ruin everything.

#43 - Search

He spent much of his life looking for something he could never explain, but he thinks he's found it (he isn't sure if it's the airship or her, and he doesn't quite want to find out).

#44 - Hope

There's something terribly emotional about the way the clouds seem to part when they pass through, like the world is making a way for them, and there's still a chance for everything to end up right, even when all seems lost.

#45 - Eclipse

He once tried to convince her that when the moon turned red, it meant that someone was coming back to life (she never did believe him).

#46 - Gravity

The hardest part of flying is landing without hurting the ship or yourself; this applies to everything in their lives.

#47 - Highway

She tries to leave him once, and makes it halfway down the main thoroughfare of Archades before he catches up with her - this is the only time she's ever seen him cry.

#48 - Unknown

The best part of being a sky pirate is that nothing is set in stone, and anything can happen.

#49 - Lock

Nothing can contain him.

#50 - Breathe

If she never draws another breath, this is what she wants to remember - Vaan standing on the roof of the ship, looking up at the night sky as if it will reach out and envelop him, as if there is nothing else to desire.  
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(A/N: Written for the 1sentence community on LJ. I actually really, really enjoyed this. Review if you like.)


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